


Training

by Choke-a-Bro (Vanya_Deyja)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Gen, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Violence, pre game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:21:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21790723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanya_Deyja/pseuds/Choke-a-Bro
Summary: Ignis and Gladio learn that part of their duties as high ranking members of court can include supervising, ordering and enduring torture for the Crown.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Training

**Author's Note:**

> Could be seen as a prequel to 'Well Trained'.

Ignis is seventeen. Gladio is eighteen. They're nearing the end of their schooling, both Citadel training and formal education, and about to head into university and performing the basic functions of their future titles. Ignis will be assisting his Uncle, Gladio his father. It's an exciting time.

Ignis is not surprised when his Uncle tells him he and Gladio will be undertaking a twelve week special course with Titus Drautos but he has his suspicions about the contents of the program when his Uncle very vaguely refers to it as " _A lesser studied elective of Special Forces_ ". 

Drautos performs no niceties when he has Gladio and Ignis in his office the first day. Gladio, big and handsome and tan, is keen to impress. Ignis is too. But Drautos is more sombre than usual when he drops the papers in front of them. They're Intel sheets. Not a textbook or anything like that. Ignis immediately knows they're high level documents which have been bound specifically for private use and then prompt destruction. This isn't public material. This is top secret stuff.

Ignis can't help but be a little excited when he picks up the booklet and starts flicking through it. 

His aloof expression falters on impact.

Gladio's whole face changes, from excited to mortified, and the older boy starts to baulk before Ignis can form words.

"What the fuck is this?" He demands.

"You are going to be high ranking officials." Drautos leans back against his desk, arms folded. "You are going to lead the Crownsguard. A military operation at times solely responsible for the protection of the royal family in hostile conditions. The Scientias, as heads of the Council, likewise have managed the covert Intel operations of Lucius for over two hundred years." 

Ignis swallows.

"You've been children, we've shown you the pretty stuff, this is the nasty stuff." Drautos grunts.

"You're going to teach us _how to torture people?_ " Gladio wheezes, dumbstruck and angry.

"How to torture, how to withstand torture if you are ever compromised." Drautos confirms matter of factly.

"That's insane," Gladio hisses.

"We are one of the oldest, largest, nations on Eos and we have gone to war as recently as twenty-years ago." Drautos maintains. "You need to know this stuff. How to do it, how to oversee it, what works, how to survive it... You'll be in charge of it."

"Do we do this to people?" Ignis murmurs. 

"Yes," Drautos nods. "As does every other nation on the planet to some extent." 

"We're supposed to protect and serve the people of Lucius through our duty to the Prince," Gladio argues, quoting his father in full. "How is this--?"

"No one gives a fuck about Lucius but the Lucians." Drautos grunts. "There are a plethora of people who want you, want the Prince, dead. They are going to play dirty and sometimes you are going to have to do the same. Yes, politics, laws... they help. But sometimes the only way to compel your enemies to cooperate is with violence. Sometimes we have to lie and sometimes we have to cheat. Everyone does. You're naive if you think otherwise." 

"We're supposed to be better than this," Gladio growls.

"The Niffs experiment on humans. The Niffs grow slaves in test tubes." Drautos reminds. "And the Niffs will cut your cock off and feed it to you if they think for a second it'll benefit them and their interests. Do you honestly think if Prince Noctis was unattended at a Lucian gas station, today, he wouldn't be kidnapped? What about raped? Murdered?" 

Gladio slumps back, quiet but still angry. 

Ignis is numb.

Ignis tries to understand but it's hard. He understands what Drautos is saying on an intellectual level but it doesn't stick. It feels wrong.

"Prince Noctis is eleven years old." Drautos tries another angle. "You know him, you know how you feel about him, you need to ask yourself what you're genuinely willing to do to keep him safe." 

Ignis' heart twists. 

"Is... is this what they'd do to him? If they could?" Ignis supposes.

"This is the tip of the fucking iceberg." Drautos nods.

"I don't..." Ignis takes a deep breath. "I don't ever want that to happen."

"Then you need to know." Drautos shrugs simply.

"I..." Ignis sits with it for a moment. "Okay."

" _Okay?_ " Gladio hisses. "Are you serious right now? This is nuts!"

"Your choice, Amicitia." Drautos gives the ultimatum. "You can join us or you can leave."

"I need to talk to Dad about this." Gladio maintains. "I can't just... this isn't what I signed up for."

"Tough shit." Drautos grunts. "Go, talk to Lord Amicitia. See what he says. Scientia, read the first fifty pages and come back tomorrow. We're discussing information gathering in the morning."

"Yes Captain," Ignis murmurs, picking up the booklet. 

Gladio looks sullen and exhausted the following day but after what must've been a tense discussion with his father he does return to Drautos' office. 

They speak no more about the ethics of it. 

There are times during the following twelve weeks, when things get more _'practical'_ , that Ignis feels like surrendering. There are times he wants to disgrace his family and forfeit his position. But he always thinks about Noctis. He thinks about what their enemies would do to him if they ever had the chance. And so he endures. 

Several years later, when Insomnia falls, Ignis considers a great deal of things in a new light. 

Only then, when things are truly desperate, is he grateful for all Drautos taught him.


End file.
